Gingerbread men

Mmm om nom nom...

MummySew gave me this as a cool pressie...it makes hundreds!!

I think next time I'll make them super super thin.

3 Recipes - a meal swap!

With all this crafting recently, I figured I should check out swap-bot once again! I thought I'd do a few quick email swaps first to get me into the swing of things and a recipe swap caught my eye!
Email 2 family favourites to 3 partners. I thought I'd share them with you too.

To start...


Cheese and Tomato Dip

4oz grated cheddar

2oz butter

1 small onion finely chopped

1 level tsp mustard powder

2 level tbsp mayonnaise

1 level tbsp tomato ketchup

1 level tbsp single cream

1 level tsp Worcester sauce

1/4 level tsp thyme

1/4 level tsp cayenne pepper

Serve with bread sticks or crudites.

This may not look like much, but it's the most delicious thing!! Made of (pretty much) store cupboard stuff too, so I can whip up a batch whenever I fancy!
By rights I'm stealing this off MummySew, but its sew YUMMY!

Secondly...


Pork Chops Oriental

1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sherry
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 clove garlic
2 pork chops
1 oz butter
6 oz sliced onion
4 carrots in julienne strips
1 tbsp flour
Half a pint of chicken stock
Parsley to garnish

Blend soy sauce, sherry, garlic and sugar and marinate pork chops overnight.
Drain (but keep marinade) and brown chops in oil and remove.
Cook onions and carrots in butter, add flour and cook for 2 minutes
Gradually add stock.
Pour into serving dish and place chops on top.
Pour over marinade, cover and cook for 1 hour in preheated oven.

Gas Mark 3 or 325 F

Best served with creamy, butter mash potato and a green veg e.g. beans/broccoli (although there are lots of carrots in it already!)

This I do at uni in the slow cooker although historically, Mum used to serve it when I came home tired and bruised after a Duke of Edinburgh expedition. Now its just comfort food :)

and lastly (because everyone needs pudding)...


Cinnamon Plum Pudding

For the pastry:
3oz butter
6oz plain flour
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 tbsp water

Sieve dry ingredients together.
Rub in butter with hands until texture is like fine breadcrumbs.
Mix in egg and water to form a solid ball.
Leave to stand in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Roll out and line a 9" flan tin, then stand in the fridge for a further 30 minutes.

For the filling:
1 tsp cinnamon
1oz caster sugar
3 large egg yolks
200mls creme fraiche
50mls milk
1lb of plums de-stoned and cut into 8

Arrange plums (I usually go spiral) on the pastry.
Mix the custard and pour over the plums.
Sprinkle with demerara sugar (roughly 1 tbsp)
Carefully place on middle shelf of pre-heated oven and bake.

Gas mark 6 or 200C
20-30 minutes

I made this recently for MummySew and NannyBake. The plums I used were very wet so while it tasted delicious...the centre was quite sloppy. I might try a few different techniques to avoid this and make the custard set better next time...maybe lower temperature for longer, or blind bake the pastry, or use less plums?? MummySew recommends bigger tin, thinner custard e.g. 12x9" sandwich tin.
Never-the-less...yum scrum!

Chocolate indulgence!

So we've had a week of baking in the Reeves household! First up we made sweetie's - Rum truffles, traditional fudge and chocolate and pistachio fudge for packaging with ribbon and gorgeous petite four cases! 

 Then something new this year, we soaked strips of orange peel in sugar and water then sugar coated them...then dunked them in chocolate. Surprisingly, I love these - they are so sweet (I'm not usually a peel fan!)

Don't fear...this isn't turning into a foody blog!! I just can't post the silly little gifts from this year until after the 25th!

Tulips and Chocolate

Spring is here! Kind of anyway - its sunny, definitely warmer and the long awaited daffodils, crocuses and snowdrops now line the high street all at once. I felt contrary and bought tulips instead...

And did i ever show you what MummySew left behind? a CHOCOLATE duck

...But all this coursework and pbl and portfolio works makes you kind of hungry...

Nom nom nom!

Bread Making

Did I mention bread making?

Soda bread. For when the cupboards are bare!

Mm...
Oh and I totally miss cuddles from this one...

Robin Hoods Bay

I had the most wonderful weekend. I think I've mentioned this three times here already but I DID. look...

We had an eco lodge for the night in Ravenscar just down the coast from Robin Hoods Bay.

Tom organised the most beautiful flowers and chocolates!

We had a log burning stove and 2 floors with a kitchen and the most decadent wallpaper and chandeliers all to ourselves! Gorgeous lodges with the most spectacular views...

We went for a swim at the hotel, wandered down into Robin Hoods Bay and went fossil hunting and found an amenite fossil! And some cheats fossil hunting...which was too pretty and touristy to refuse! Isn't it inspiring??

Oh and we went out for the yummiest dinner at the Wayfarer Bistro also in Robin Hoods Bay which had the most gorgeous abstract artwork. I had lemon sole, and Tom had seabass - it seemed rude not to have fish when they were so famous for it.

We giggled all weekend, had tea and cakes at every tearoom we passed and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! Of course going back home to MummySew was lovely too. Amazing home cooking, crafty times and bread making...I didn't want to leave :(

Vintage Jar Labels

I emailed Jessica of howaboutorange a few days ago asking about label designs and she had a reply at her fingertips.

She sent me this link which I adored immediately. Sew beautiful!! I thought they looked a little like the labels you used to see on bars of soap?

I got to work and printed off one experimental sheet which I did very simply with a Microsoft Word application. They work wonderfully see?

The next step is a set of little ones for my spice/seed jars. I think they may take a little longer though. I will have to have my cut/paste wits (and patience) about me.
All that is left to do with these lovelies is a bit of trimming with a scalpel and then some sticking.


Perfect :)

Nom nom nom...

I had some silly fun with ma and the childhood cookie cutters plus kiddie recipe's! Shortbread, Nanny Gales ground rice biscuits and Ginger shortbread...

...wrapped up in cellophane with a big ribbon and a christmassy tag, they looked rather smart! Good thank you's after christmas :)

Oh oh and the stockings this year had finger puppets too - two of which went walkies but might pop up here if they ever come back for a holiday?